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Show 112 MR. J. E. HARTING ON ARCTIC BIRDS. [Feb. 7, These and other similar questions will be found adverted to under the head of the species to which they refer; and it has been deemed expedient to add to the catalogue such references and notes as may be likely to aid the researches of the student who may have occasion to consult it. In consequence of several birds belonging to different species, and in some cases to widely different genera, being grouped together in one and the same case, it has not always been possible to arrange the cases satisfactorily. Subject to this inconvenience, the collection may be catalogued as follows :- Case 1. GREENLAND FALCON. Falco candicans, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 275 (1788). Falco grcenlandicus, Daudin, Traite d'Orn. ii. p. 107 (1800). According to Holboll this beautiful Falcon, which in the adult state is nearly pure white, is a resident species in Greenland. It is found nevertheless in other countries of the north, and has several times been procured in Great Britain. The two specimens in this case were killed at Disco, in 1853, by Dr. M'Cormick, of H.M.S. ' North Star.' Case 2. PEREGRINE FALCON. Falco peregrinus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 272. A male bird, caught at the masthead of H.M.S. ' North Star,' in Davis Straits, close to the coast of Greenland, in the spring of 1852. Case 3. SNOWY OWL. Strix nyctea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766). Nyctea nivea, Daudin, Traite d'Orn. ii. p. 190 (1800). Some interesting notes on the migration of the Snowy Owl, as observed by Captain M'Kechnie, of the ship'John and Robert,' between Quebec and Belfast, will be found in the ' Annals of Natural History' for April 1839. Cases 4 & 5. RAVEN. Corvus corax, Linn. A male bird killed on Beechy Island, Barrow Straits, 1st August, 1853, and brought home by Dr. M'Cormick, of H.M.S. 'North Star;' and a second obtained on Choris Peninsula, Behring's Straits, in 1849, by Capt. Moore, in H.M.S. ' Plover.' Whether the American Raven is identical with the European Corvus corax, or a distinct species, is not quite clear. Prof. Schlegel has figured the head of a Raven from Labrador side by side with one from Germany ; and the superiority in size of the former is very apparent*. From the measurements given in the article referred to, it appears that specimens from Labrador and Greenland exceed * " Notice sur le genre Corvus" Bijdrag. Koninkl. Zool. Genoots. Amsterdam 1859. |
